Cassell's dictionary of cookery

Pepper Vinegar. —Take fifty fresh red English chillies, cut them in two, put them into a wide-necked bottle, and pour over them a pint of best vinegar. Let them remain for a fortnight, and shake the bottle occasionally. Strain, and bottle for use. Fresh vinegar may be put over the chillies three or four times, until the strength is exhausted. This vinegar is an agreeable addition to melted butter in making fish sauces, and is very useful for flavouring purposes. If genuine cayenne can be obtained, a quarter of an ounce put into a pint of vinegar will answer the same purpose. English chillies are at their best during September and October. Probable cost, Is. 6d. to 3s. per hundred chillies. Sufficient for a pint of vinegar. Pepper Water (for flavouring). — Strain the juice of a fresh lemon into a pint and a half of cold water. Slice an onion and pound it in a mortar, with twelve peppercorns, three cloves of garhc, a table-spoonful of curry powder, and a dessert-spoonful of salt. Put all into a saucepan, bring the liquid to the point of boiling, cover closely, and let it simmer gently for a quarter of an hour, then strain it through muslin. Put with it a small onion which has been chopped small and fried lightly in butter. Boil up once more, and the pepper water is ready to be bottled. Cork closely, and store in a cool, diy place. In India, where this recipe is in great repute, a piece of tamarind is substituted for the lemon-juice. Probable cost, 2d. per pint. Pepper, White. — White pepper is the product of the same plant as black pepper. To manufacture it the black wrinkled coats of the seeds are removed by soaking and friction. They are then ground to powder. White pepper is by many preferred to black, on account of its superior appearance. It is deficient, however, in both strength and flavour. Like black pepper, white pepper is divided by wholesale dealers into three kinds or varieties. These a,Te —Tellicherry pepper, which is of two kinds. Large or fine Tellicherry pepper is larger and whiter than any other description of white pepper, and fetches a higher price ; small or coriander-Uke pepper is shrivelled. Common white pepper comes from Penang by Singapore ; it is round, and not shrivelled ; its value depends on its size and whiteness. English bleached or white pepper. — When the two preceding sorts are scarce, brown Penang pepper is bleached. The yellowest and largest grains are chosen for this purpose, for neither an expensive nor small sort would pay. Pepper used to be subject to scandalous adulteration. Peppermint Cordial.— Take of white sugar and water in the proportion of 196 pounds of the former to fifteen gallons of the latter. Break the sugar into pieces, put it into a 120-gallon cask, and pour the water on it. Let it stand till the next day ; then put a stick into the bunghole, and rummage until the sugar is dissolved. Next add two ounces of EngUsh oil of peppermint and fortj' gallons of proof spirit. Mix well, and add, further, enough water to make the whole up to 106 gallons. Let the cordial stand till fine.